Comments from Israel, covering everything that you can imagine and more!

Sunday, September 14, 2014

After the war

Israel is a state of democracy and law. As in
all democracies, the wheels of justice turn slowly, but they do turn. For
example, the Attorney General of the IDF is investigating 99 cases of potential
breaches of international humanitarian law from the IDF actions in Gaza this
summer. Considering that the IDF carried out ca. 5,000 sorties over Gaza during
the 50-day long Operation Protective Edge, and there were numerous ground
operations, that is not a large number. According to media reports, so far 12
cases have been investigated and of those 7 have been dropped and 5 have been
referred for judicial enquiry. This includes for example, the killing of 5
Palestinian boys who were playing soccer on the beach and were killed by IAF
fire. Since Hamas stages many incidents, one cannot
believe their version of events or so-called eye-witnesses in any case, and that
is why the IDF carries out its own investigation. If there is a case to answer,
then the IAF pilot involved will be charged accordingly and there will be a
trial.

All this is independent of the so-called UN Human Rights
investigation of Israel for "war crimes" that is known to be biased even before
it starts. For example, clearly Israel cannot investigate the Hamas war crimes,
but the UN investigation could, however their remit only includes investigating
Israel, not Hamas. The well-documented actions of Hamas for firing ca. 4,500
missiles into populated Israeli territory, the numerous cases of using civilians
as "human shields," and the cases of misusing UN facilities for storing weapons
and firing from them, all warrant legal investigation, but neither Hamas nor the
UN will in fact be investigating them.

A report investigated by AP concluded that Hamas gunmen
threatened UNWRA personnel at gunpoint during the fighting in Gaza. They
terrorized them and stole humanitarian goods as well as stored munitions in UN
facilities. Trucks marked with the UN logo were hijacked by Hamas gunmen and
their contents were off-loaded for Hamas use. Hamas missile launching squads
deliberately launched missiles from next to UN facilities, even though they were
warned and asked to move their launchers. Yet, the main complaint by UNWRA and
the UN Secty Gen Ban-ki Moon were all against Israel for supposedly targeting
their facilities.

As evidence that Israel is a state of law, witness the
following: a. Human Rights Watch a left-wing Israel NGO produced a report
without any real investigation concluding that Israel commited war crimes in
Gaza during the Operation this summer. Since Israel is an open society they are
free to publish any report they like, which doesn't mean that its conclusions
are correct. b. The Israeli High Court of Justice ordered the demolition of 5
apartment buildings in the midst of the settlement of Beth EL, because it
has accepted that they were built on privately Arab owned land without
permission. Anyone can go to court in Israel, including Palestinian Arabs and
sue for their own interests, and they often do. c. Two border policemen and a
soldier were arrested Mon and charged with illegally robbing foreign workers,
including Eritrean and Chinese laborers. d. The Attorney General has ordered an
investigation into the activities of Judge Yitzhak Cohen of Nazareth District
Court over allegations of sexual offences.